As the world marks International Day for Eradication of Poverty, it is crucial to spread the message that equal access to quality education plays a key role in eradicating poverty.

Since 1990, although rates have been cut in half, 21% of the world’s population still lives in extreme poverty. It is vital to step up efforts to give these people a better chance of a decent and fulfilling life. Education has a central role to play in such efforts.

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The EFA Global Monitoring Report’s Education Transforms booklet shows that education not only helps individuals escape poverty by developing the skills they need to improve their livelihoods, but also generates productivity gains that fuel economic growth. While growth does not automatically reduce poverty, without it sustained poverty reduction is not possible.

Our recent analysis, released at the United Nation General Assembly last month, shows that for growth to reduce poverty, it needs to overcome inequality by improving the lives of the poorest and marginalized the most. Education is vital to achieve this goal because it can help ensure that the benefits of growth are fairly shared.

By building a skilled workforce, education can promote a country from one economic bracket to the next. If all students in low income countries left school with basic reading skills, we could eradicate 12% of world poverty. As such, it is an essential investment.

Evidence from the EFA Global Monitoring Report shows that for every US$1 spent on education, between US$10 and US$15 would be generated in economic growth.

Skills are the key way in which education reduces poverty. Education makes it more likely for men and women not just to be employed, but to hold jobs that are more secure and provide good working conditions and decent pay. In so doing, education can not only help lift households out of poverty, but also guard against them falling – or falling back – into poverty.

In Jordan, 25% of women with only primary education who live in rural areas work for no pay, for example, compared with 7% of those with a secondary education. In El Salvador, only 5% of working adults with less than primary education have an employment contract, compared with 47% of working adults with secondary education.

There is no better moment to realize education’s role in helping households escape poverty than today. To unlock the wider benefits of education so that it can play its full part in helping the world achieve poverty eradication, all children need the chance to complete not only primary school but also lower secondary school. And access to schooling is not enough on its own: as we will highlight in the next EFA GMR 2013/14 (being launched on January 14), education needs to be of good quality so that children actually learn. Given this fundamental role that a quality, equitable education can play in tackling the root causes of poverty, join us in calling for it to be a central part of any new development framework post-2015.

44 Responses to We will never eradicate poverty without quality education for all

i agree with your opinion and also want to say that if we provide batter and quality education than future will became so much brighter…
i hope every school give preference to their education not only money..

While I agree education is an important step toward moving out of poverty, I am not convinced it will reduce poverty as much as predicted. Many of those living in poverty have opportunities to receive quality educations equal to those in higher income brackets. Many of the issues are as much social as economical. There are more single parent households in lower income levels and fewer of the individuals from poverty stricken communities place emphasis on education. Many work multiple jobs, have latch-key children and do not have an education level that makes them capable of aiding their children with their educational needs. Until social changes occur to offer support to children of parents with low education levels, changes in equality of education is not likely to have a huge impact. After school programs, pre-K programs, and in-school assistance/tutoring programs would likely have a huge impact on improved education and equality of learning instead of focusing on poverty levels – this should perhaps be a community focused not an income focused issue.

I believe books like Ruby Payne’s give us a start in trying to understand some of the thoughts and behaviors that children and or parents have that live in poverty. However, I don’t think we should be teaching to middleclass values. We need to teach to each child in a way that he/she will learn. Payne offers insight to us as educators, some sound realistic and some don’t. I believe that no one person has all the answers. When exactly did it become my job to solve poverty?? We ne politicians to come down off their mountain tops and really see what’s going on in schools!!!

A great question is how does Primary education help an individual fight against poverty,if institutions are grasp by poverty?Learners study in a crowd class with very few facilities.Take initiatives on en lighting Quality in public primary schools in Tanzania

Yes i absolutely agree that quality education helps to minimize poverty but most of the people around the world have not understood a comprehensive meaning of poverty. I think poverty embraces wealth as well as good virtues. In my naive opinion, quality education should promote these qualities simultaneously. I think those people are just rubbish who always run after wealth and do not have good virtues. So, people who believe that they have got quality education and desire to amass wealth and completely ignore good virtues are the poorest ones.

If we understand the real meaning of “quality education”, as enlivened by Julie Strawn that education combined with strategy is focused on job training( with an eye on local demand) ” soft skills,” and holding out for quality jobs. If so, the poverty will be, largely, done with. but its total eradication is impossible, because it is naturally allowed by the creator to be undergone by men. However, a man has his share to do to be in a balanced life provided that he/she acquires the quality education before hand.

This is a complex issue! Sometimes not necessarily that education reduces poverty. However there is significant evidence that education could be used as a tool for fighting poverty. In Tanzania for example, despite that achieving UPE in 79s and 80s was a very big success but still the country ranks poor from the bottom of a list. There’s much to do with level of corruption, quality of leaders, level of technology, political options and so on.

I think People Should understand what education can solve any aspects of life, and also people have to make sure what kind of education they are receiving, the quality,the syllable and instructors who are delivering the education. if all are well equipped, the education can reduce any barriers of life.

While education is a necessary strategy in the reduction of “poverty”, education alone is not sufficient to significantly reduce poverty in any community. “Poverty” (in this case, the state of powerlessness – denial of power to meet ones basic human needs, denial of choices, opportunities and human dignity) – does not result from lack of education.

It has variously argued and I wish to subscribe to the argument that lack of education may constrain one’s capability to dis-entangle from poverty. I wish to add however that poverty is most often a result of impoverishment. Systemic exclusion from power and socio-economic participation, which results in extreme socio-economic inequality.

Education systems established and managed by beneficiaries of socio-economic inequality can not on their own eradicate the status-quo. Such systems may actually reproduce, refine and perpetuate mechanism for achieving, justifying and legitimizing inequality.

Inequality / exclusion from education (opportunities and outcomes) is one dimension of manifestation of broader social inequality and injustice. It is less of a cause and more of consequence. Poverty (impoverishment) and exclusion from education (denial of equal education opportunities and outcomes) are mutually reinforcing manifestation of socio-economic injustice.

Denial of equal access to equal education (opportunities and outcomes) can be used as a deliberate strategy for impoverishing a population. Just as impoverishing a population through other means (such as war, constraining accessibility to services (prohibitive cost transfer), provision of mediocre services etc, can be strategies for exclusion / denial of equal access to equal education (opportunities and outcomes).

Good to read this valuable and knowledgeable blog post. Thanks for sharing it with us. In this world lot of children living in the poverty circle. i believe that every child should have the opportunity to attend primary school as a starting point. Children and young adults from backgrounds of poverty will be educated and empowered to make positive choices for themselves and their families. because education is only one way to break the poverty circle

Importance of eradicating poverty through education is a noble idea. But in reality education should be geared to changing the mind sets and developing capacities of the beneficiaries rather than focusing only on examinations without practical skills. The education of the Poor AND POWERLESS’ needs a ‘refolutionery’ approach if education is to bring about radical changes in the poverty lines of the masses. Unfortunately educational policies and all logistics are determined by the’ well fed and well read’ . Hence the needs and priorities of the poorer communities are always left out. They are mere onlookers of the game of education. When will this change?

despite the fact that government of kenya is trying to eradicate poverty through education,kenyans will still remain poor due few job opportunities.so as much as they are trying to educate their citizens they should also focusn on creating job opportunities.

Education, is only a partial cure for poverty because of all the other recent changes in the labor market, this is a most important key government must put plan, strategies, and policy on education because our education curriculum does not train student as a profession rather a non-marketable CV.

Interesting article. Education is certainly a key ingredient to get out of poverty and improve one’s standard of living/quality of life. To often, take what we have for granted, without realizing its value. How many of us are thankful for the fact that we can read and write? Think of all the opportunities/doors that would be closed if you were not literate. The bottom line is, education opens doors to opportunities and can help people dream big.

Yes, equal access to quality education plays a key role in eradicating poverty, but education alone is not enough. I think people need to change their mental systems: the individual’s attitude and behaviors, the social and cultural beliefs, the political and institutional practices play a significant role increasing poverty. Rather than focusing on equal access to education, attention should be put on the learners’ needs, systems and processes through which results are achieved; to promote life long learning opportunities, for all, to achieve sustainable development and eradicate poverty.

Education and free and easy access to needed information should get part of human rights. But poverty exists also in rich countries and the gap between very rich and very poor people is dramatically increasing.
Too much corruption exists in all countries and the very rich profit from, that the poor ones have to work almost for nothing.
Globally this unfair treatment of the poor ones is also supported by wrong actions of the rich countries.
The European community for instance has agreed, that textiles from Bangladesh can be imported to the European community, without that duties have to be paid. But the poor people in Bangladesh do not profit from it, only the rich, corrupt ones in Bangladesh and the big greedy western trading companies.
It would be much better, it duties would have to be paid and that then this money would be given directly to the poor ones in Bangladesh and that they also would get all needed support, to found their own small companies or work as farmers. Important would be, to exclude all corrupt people, to interfere.

“education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”Nelson Mandela.
YES………it enhances creativity among individuals,it guides us in making reasonable choices,it motivates us to use the inner talents,thereby creating a world of our own imagination.

Education is a necessary but not sufficient factor to eradication of poverty. For me, poverty is deeply rooted in people’s culture. What we need is a systemic change in people’s attitude to work and change of behaviour. In most of the African countries, corruption is deeply rooted in the culture and education has not managed to reduce it. Among the most corrupt are those who have seen more blackboards, whiteboards and flipcharts.

Education cannot reduce poverty…….this is because those who are more benefiting from the same education are from able families which means that the poor will still remain poor and this is as result of corruption and mismanagement of government funds in education sector……that would have been used to assist those students from lower families

I do not understand how over a billion plus dollars can be given to one person if they win the lottery but college for students can not be free or reduced. Since education is key, then i believe that teachers should have 65% of their students pass since the students have to have a 65% to go on to the next level of education. Sometimes it isn’t the student who fails to pass, it sometimes can be the teacher who fails to teach. I believe all teachers should have three times to have 65% of there students to pass and if this basic criteria cant be reached then someone else who want to be a teacher should get an opportunity to teach. Thanks.

Education is a veritable tool for poverty reduction in developing countries. However from experience, many who are educated are also poor because they are unemployed. In addition to education therefore, there should be job creation in areas that are indigenous to the people in question which will further boost the economic standards of the people. Omorede, C. K. (Ph. D) Department of Public Administration, Uni. of Benin, Nigeria.